Artificial pre-lighted Christmas trees, where the seasonal lights are incorporated on or with the tree, have become a popular alternative to both live trees and unlighted artificial trees. These trees are usually sectional for easy storage, with some lighted trees routing power for the lights up through the trunk of the tree with electrical connectors built into the ends of each tree section to distribute power to each section. A concern with such pre-lighted Christmas trees is the use of standard electrical power cords for powering the lights up through the trunk of the tree. The vast majority of electrical power cords generally have an 18 AWG wire cord with a maximum load of 5 amp and 600 watts at 120 volts. Most house wiring is 12 AWG with a 20 amp circuit breaker. At 120 volts, the breaker won't open until 2400 watts are reached. Since this greatly exceeds the appliance cord capability, the cord will overheat and incinerate unless protected by a fuse. The benefits of putting a fuse in an electrical plug have been known for some time. If a fuse is located in the plug of a standard three-wire plug that powers the tree directly, it can provide the protection of a fuse to any seasonal lights that may be incorporated on or with the tree. One potential problem encountered in designing a plug structure for making the fuses readily accessible is that the fuses may become too easily accessible when the conducting prongs of the plug are inserted in a socket. Under such conditions, it is very possible for a user to contact one of the electrical conductors normally abutting the fuse and receive a potentially serious shock.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a lighted artificial Christmas tree with a fused electrical power cord plug that overcomes the limitations of the prior art by not allowing access to the fuse when the conducting prongs of the plug are inserted in a socket.